RM founder and chairman Rob Myers at the July 1 press conference in Auburn, Indiana.

    July 1 isn’t usually a date that’s celebrated in the U.S., but this year it became Canada Day in the city of Auburn, Indiana.
    There weren’t any fireworks, just a bang-up announcement for the battered-by-recession old car hobby. Canada’s RM Auctions, of Blenheim, Ont., has purchased the 235-acre Auburn Auction Park from near-bankrupt Cruze Auctions.
    Ironically, Kruze once considered RM its major competitor.
The announcement was made by RM founder and chairman Rob Myers at a press conference in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum.
For park owner Dean Cruze, it is “the end of an era, but a new launch for RM.”
    “I have known Rob for about 30 years,” Cruze said. “He is one of the most knowledgeable men in the car business and has one of the best – bar none – of any auction company in the world.”
    It’s no secret that Cruze Auctions had been in trouble for awhile. Its owner had the option of going bankrupt or selling to a number of interested parties, including eBay. In the end, he chose RM. However, the Canadians are assuming none of Cruze’s debt. This is an asset purchase only. RM is not buying Cruze Auctions, only its Auburn Auction Park.
    “My mess is still my mess,” Cruze said, “RM did not assume any of my liabilities.”
    Cruze has been given three years by the state of Indiana to pay off consignors whose vehicles had been sold but who received no money for them.
    “I could have gone bankrupt,” he said, “but I want to pay these people. There are 62 of them left. I carry the list with me and am paying them off one at a time.”
    Cruze will have no legal or financial interest in the new company.
Myers said that RM – with worldwide sales of more than $200 million last year – has made its reputation as a boutique company with specialized sales in Britain, Italy and across the U.S.
    “We have been turning down cars because we did not have the venue for them,” he said.
    Now they do.
    The purchase of the Auburn Auction Park will give RM a location where, at least twice a year, they will be able to sell a wide range of vehicles including muscle cars and customs – areas of the hobby in which RM has not been involved. Until now.
    “There is no doubt in our minds that this will become the largest (old car) auction in the world,” Myers said.
    And the new company, called Auctions America by RM, isn’t about to let the grass grow under its wheels. The first sale in the refurbished auction park will be on the Labour Day weekend in less than two months. The company hopes to offer between 1,000 and 1,500 cars.
    Ambitious? You betcha! But RM didn’t become the world’s largest auction house for quality automobiles by sitting on its hands since Myers started restoring cars in a single-car garage 34 years ago.
Holding a sale in Auburn this Labour Day also keeps alive a 40-year tradition of having an auction that coincides with the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Festival that weekend.
    “The very first collector car auction I attended was the one held on Labour Day weekend in Auburn back in 1974. The ACD Festival and auction weekend has been a tradition for me ever since,” Myers said.
RM Auctions partner Donnie Gould has been named president of the new company and said, “We want to bring the park back to its glory days and make Auburn the antique car capital of the world.
    “RM Auctions has so many customers active in the buying and selling of muscle cars, customs, street rods and just plain great old cars that we simply cannot service them all with our existing venues,” said Gould.  “We believe the Auburn location is ideal for this biggest segment of the market with its freeway access, huge parking lots, and motorcoach and swap meet facilities. We are all very excited to get started.”

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com